The Patient Safety Group (PSG) of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) are delighted to lend our enthusiastic support to the sixth World Patient Safety Day (WPSD). This event, established by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019, takes place on 17 September every year. It helps to raise global awareness amongst all stakeholders about key Patient Safety issues and foster collaboration between patients, health care workers, health care leaders and policy makers to improve patient safety. Each year a new theme is selected to highlight a priority patient safety area for action.
The theme set by the WHO for this year’s WPSD is “Improving diagnosis for patient safety”, recognising the vital importance of correct and timely diagnosis in ensuring patient safety and improving health outcomes.
I have been a member of the RCSEd Patient Safety Committee for six months, following four years of service on the College’s Lay Committee.
My professional life is a tapestry of diverse roles. From serving as Deputy Leader of a Council to my 35-year tenure with the NHS, I've gained a broad range of experiences. While my NHS career was non-clinical, I remain connected to healthcare as a Lay Member of a large Primary Care Network alongside my partner, a retiring Nurse Practitioner. As a "simple lay member," I bring an alternative perspective to the table, leveraging my diverse background to contribute valuable insights and alternative perspective to RCSEd committees.
When asked to write this blog, I reflected on what "patient safety" means to different people and the level of awareness surrounding WPSD. I also considered the concept of "international days" more broadly, as I encounter them frequently. For example, as a part of my Councillor role I have just involved a video for Chimney Fire Safety Week - there i such a thing (or, as I call it, Chimney Sweep Week) and recently promoted International Dog Week. Such days or weeks have value in raising awareness of important issues beyond the usual audiences.
My Approach
To better understand what WPSD means to others, I reached out to my diverse network of about 100 individuals, both clinical and non-clinical. While this was not a scientific or representative sample, my goal was to obtain at least 24 responses (couldn’t m,anage 2024 so 24 will have to do), recognising that not everyone responds to WhatsApp messages. I knew it would not be rigorous research with a representative sample, but I did not anticipate just how thought-provoking the responses would be.
My approach was straightforward: I sent a message with a link to the WHO website, explaining my purpose and asking a simple question: “What does World Patient Safety Day mean to you?”
When I initially asked what patient safety meant to them, many respondents indicated they had never heard of it. I then sent the WHO link and drew an analogy to car maintenance: “If you don’t understand what is wrong with your car, you may not know how to fix it, which could lead to ongoing problems or even catastrophic failure for both you and the car.” I then asked, “From your perspective, what do you see as the main barrier to achieving a timely and accurate diagnosis?”
Key Insights
Ten key themes emerged from the responses, some expected and others surprising:
- A significant number of people had not heard of World Patient Safety Day
- Both real and perceived barriers to accessing care were voiced, including issues related to resources and public perception
- Patient safety extends beyond the healthcare system to encompass training, resources, technology, and culture. Engaging with end-users is critical to understanding their experiences
- There is a need for greater transparency around the causes of delays in diagnosis (one respondent mentioned Deborah James as an example)
- Increasing workloads in Primary Care can result in missed opportunities for diagnosis, where individuals may not even enter the diagnostic process
- There is a need for better public health information on signs and symptoms; the responsibility cannot rest solely on the healthcare system to encourage patients to seek help
- Raising awareness among the public about when to seek clinical attention and when it may not be necessary
- The deployment of best practices and the use of technology remain fragmented
- Strong leadership is required to foster a culture of curiosity and critical evaluation of existing practices
- Concerns were raised about potential biases, both conscious and unconscious, within the healthcare system, particularly regarding gender bias.
Lessons Learned
This experience has prompted me to think more deeply and consciously about patient safety in my role within the Primary Care Network. Clearly, World Patient Safety Day has value as a catalyst for ongoing dialogue.
Achieving quicker and more accurate diagnoses is a complex challenge that requires multifaceted solutions, including service design, identifying and addressing bottlenecks and delays based on patient experience, and continuous workforce development.
Several questions arise from this:
- Are we fully leveraging technology to its potential?
- Does the healthcare system exhibit gender bias, and should we be examining this more closely?
- How are we addressing unconscious bias in the training of healthcare professionals, both at the outset of their careers and throughout?
- Prevention remains better than cure; are we doing enough to promote well-being and address health issues upstream?
Conclusion
The journey to enhance patient safety is a complex one, with no one path to take. Through my experiences as a lay member of the RCSEd (and recently Patient Safety Committee) and my engagement with a diverse network of individuals, I've gained valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The feedback received from my informal survey highlighted the need for increased awareness of patient safety, improved access to care, and a more patient-centred approach to healthcare delivery.
By working together, we can create a healthcare system that prioritises patient safety, delivers high-quality care, and empowers individuals to take an active role in their own health.